


Lexical Gap

by kitewithfish



Category: Hayy ibn Yaqzan by ibn Tufayl
Genre: Desert Island, Gen, gen - Freeform, ibn tufayl, source:arabic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-12
Updated: 2010-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-06 05:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitewithfish/pseuds/kitewithfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Absal," he said, "I do not have the words."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lexical Gap

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off of characters in Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl's The Philosophical Tale of Hayy ibn Yaqzan, first published in the 12th century in Spain. The Philosophical Tale is itself a fanfiction of Avicenna's 11th century Persian Recital of Hayy ibn Yaqzan.  
> Both are available in English since the 16th century. Spellings vary. Slash goggles make ibn Tufayl's version significantly more enjoyable.  
> This story is gen, but acknowledges the existence of a nonexplicit m/m sexual relationship.

Hayy studied carefully the sands beneath his toes, their patterns of light and motion as they caught softly on the fine hairs on the back of his toes.

"No," he said, at length. "The moment of divine union with the Truth is not like the feelings of a mother for his child."

"_Her_ child, Hayy." Absal corrected gently. "Something belonging to a woman belongs to _her_."

"Her child. But still the image is wrong, I think. It is not a thing of images, or of symbols, but of rising above the symbol. There is something else. " A wrinkled formed between Hayy's eyebrows. He paused in speaking as his gazed shifted from sands to the distant horizon, and then back to the sand again. His eyes did not mark the change in subjects, nor did his expression change.

"Your words are coming to me more easy- easily," he responded at last. "But I do not think that there are words for what I mean."

Absal nodded, slowly. He was coming to the same conclusion himself. Several months since their first meeting and the beginning of Hayy's first instructions in human language, and yet Absal continued to fail to give Hayy the right words to describe his moments of blissful union with the One God. Absal took his turn to stare at sand and sea. Hayy stared at Absal's face. Absal spoke:

"When two men such as we, devoted with such pure hearts and bodies to seek humbly the presence of the Truth, great is his mercy, strive towards such a description of this ecstatic moment, and yet continually cannot claim success, perhaps it is only the will of the Divine to remain undescribed." 

Hayy blinked, and cocked his head to the side with his eyes still riveted to Absal's face. He blinked again and then nodded with his eyes closed tight. That was all the reply he made to Absal, but there was no offense intended in his shortness. The words that flowed so easily to Absal still stuck Hayy at times as a strange animal whose behavior cycled rapidly from lassitude to fear to rage to joy without warning or clear cause- a creature of great interest, it must be, but not something with which to toy. Hayy reached out to take Absal by the hand, and the two men ambled companionably over the sand towards the treeline. Neither wore shoes. Their clothes were ragged remnants of older garments patched with imperfectly cured leather, and Hayy's beard wagged to his chest while Absal's curled shorter. The light was fading, and they watched for shells as they walked.

***  
Nestled under the trees to escape the worst of the wind's faint chill, Absal watched the planets and recited his lesson.

"The heavenly bodies are beyond the boundaries of the earthly sphere, and so approach more closely the perfection of the divine. Their wonderously regular orbits, perfect poise, and distance from the physical world act as an example to the humble mystic as he seeks to forget the mortal flesh and reach blissfully towards the Truth, peace be upon Him."

Absal felt Hayy's head beneath his chin nod once, sharply downward, and his arms tightened where they were laced around Absal's ribs.  
"There is more," Hayy said.

"Yes, of course, I have not forgotten." Absal petted Hayy absently on his head. In truth, Absal was somewhat distracted by Hayy's nearness, but it was often so. He felt it only fair to allow Hayy the physical contact so often he sought, after a lifetime of total isolation. Physical love was still to Hayy as a new toy to a child.

"We follow the circular motion of the sphere's that we can ourselves forget in this physical act our physical nature, and lose our very selves in the motion, thus opening ourselves up to greater and more joyful union with the divine."

There came the same sharp nod beneath his chin, but this time Absal felt Hayy grin into his neck. They stayed and breathed and watched the stars. They shifted to better avoid the wind.

"But what is it like, Hayy? What does it feel like, to be so close to God?" Absal breathed into Hayy's ear.

There was a long pause, and then Hayy shifted to kneel up before Absal without breaking their embrace. In the thin light of the stars, Absal could only see the barest sketch of Hayy's face, black against the paler night, but he could feel Hayy's breath as a heavy, soothing warmth on his face. They stayed.

"I do not have words." Hayy whispered, sadly. "It is... joy. And peace. But these are not enough to tell you what it means." Hayy's hands tightened on Absal's shoulders, and Absal stroked his sides, his back to sooth the frustration. Hayy sighed out at last, "Absal, I do not have the _words_."

Absal pulled him close again, and buried his face against his neck. Where Hayy did the same, Absal felt his tightened jaw, and wrapped one leg around his lover's. "Shhh, my friend. The words will come."


End file.
